


If Then

by Scribe



Category: due South
Genre: Community: ds_snippets | dsc6dsnippets, Multi
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-06-13
Updated: 2013-06-13
Packaged: 2018-01-16 12:26:06
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 600
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1347397
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scribe/pseuds/Scribe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>for the prompt "piercing"</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

At seventeen Ray almost got his ear pierced. Just the one ear, the one that meant something. He knew by then that he wasn't one thing or the other, but that didn't matter; you still had to choose one world to live in, and he'd made up his mind.

Instead, Stella started visiting colleges. After her first trip she snuck out to meet him in the middle of the night, arms crossed tight and tears in her eyes and said, _I don't want to leave you_. That was the first time they had sex. Then they stayed up all night studying physics, because Ray was suddenly terrified that no one would let him follow Stella to college, even if she wanted him to.

He thinks about it, sometimes, what happened in the universe where Stella didn't call. He wouldn't have stayed home for long with the earring, that's for sure. No police academy, either. Maybe Ray-with-an-earring is a mechanic. A shop wouldn't be any more welcoming than a police station, but at least if the other guys there gave him the stink-eye it wouldn't put his life in danger.

Hell, maybe he's a ballroom dancer.

He's pretty sure that Ray-with-an-earring is still friends with Stella, though he can't think about that too hard without wanting to hit something. He might know Vecchio as Stella's husband, wouldn't know his birthday and extended family and service record by heart.

There's no reason why Ray-with-an-earring would know Fraser, but he can't shake the feeling that they have to meet somehow. Maybe someone's smuggling something weird in packages of auto parts, or maybe he just knows Fraser through Vecchio through Stella. He wants to know what Fraser thinks of him in the other universe.

He wants to know what Fraser thinks of the _earring_.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> For archival purposes. 
> 
> The text in the first chapter was the original snippet posted to the community, but when I went back to add it to the AO3 I found this alternate version in the bottom of the word document.

At the age of seventeen Ray almost got his ear pierced. Just the one ear, the one that meant something. He knew by then that he wasn't one thing or the other, but that didn't matter; you still had to choose one world to live in, and he'd made up his mind.

Instead, Stella started visiting colleges. After her first trip she made him sneak out to meet her at one in the morning, sat there with arms crossed tight and tears in her eyes and said, _I don't want to leave you_. That was the first time they had sex. Then they stayed up all night studying physics, because Ray was suddenly terrified that no one would let him follow Stella to college, even if she wanted him to.

He thinks about it, sometimes, what happened in the universe where Stella didn't call. He wouldn't have stayed home for long with the earring, that's for sure. No police academy, either. Maybe Ray-with-an-earring is a mechanic. A shop wouldn't be any more welcoming than a police station, but at least if the other guys there gave him the stink-eye it wouldn't put his life in danger. 

Hell, maybe he's a ballroom dancer. 

He's pretty sure that Ray-with-an-earring is still friends with Stella, though he can't think about that too hard without wanting to hit something. After the divorce he considers getting the earring now, goes as far as finding a place that will do it cheap and clean, but he keeps getting to the door and turning around. It wouldn't change anything. 

Well. 

It would change a lot of things, but he doesn't care much about the differences in his future. It wouldn't let him go back to seventeen and try again, and that's the only thing he really wants.

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [Origin Story](https://archiveofourown.org/works/2410280) by [Scribe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Scribe/pseuds/Scribe), [Seascribe](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Seascribe/pseuds/Seascribe)




End file.
